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Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic arm of IT services giant Infosys, today said it has committed Rs 56 crore to eight Indian academic institutes.

The Foundation has instituted 11 faculty chairs at eight leading academic institutes across India over the past 12 months, providing grants ranging from Rs 2 crore to Rs 33 crore with a total commitment of Rs 56 crore, it said in a statement.

The donated funds will be used for research in areas like obstetrics and gynecology, agriculture, economics, mathematics, technology, biology, rural development and cancer, it added.

The beneficiaries include AIIMS, International Institute for Information Technology, Bengaluru (IIIT-B), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB), Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI), Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Presidency University and IIM-Ahmedabad.

“The faculty chairs, also referred to as Infosys Chairs, will promote research, provide advanced training, support student and faculty exchange programmes in India and abroad,” it said.

Along with these, the funds donated will be used to offer travel fellowships for conferences and inviting internationally renowned professors to India for academic pursuits.

A part of the fund will also be utilised for research to identify and discover new drugs, and to develop policies to boost growth in agriculture, value chains and food security.

“We believe that scientific advancement is imperative for the progress of the nation. Through the Infosys Chairs, we seek to encourage scientists and researchers to collaborate with international academicians and enrich the student community with current concepts and the latest technologies,” Infosys Foundation Chairperson Sudha Murty said.

By diversifying fund into areas such as economics, agriculture, science and medicine, the aim is to elevate research excellence and contribute significantly towards improving the quality of people’s lives, she added.

Infosys contributes two per cent of its profits averaged over the past three years to the Foundation each year.